Hats Off: Farrells come to the aid of a stranger

Tony and Londa Farrell pose in the parking lot of the Janesville Wal-Mart, where they found a bag filled with a woman's valuables and spent a lot of time and effort to return it to her.

Hats Off

The Gazette is resurrecting its Hats Off feature, which salutes those in our communities whose selfless acts make other people's lives better. Honorees could be a child who asks birthday party guests to donate to a charity rather than bring gifts, the person who returns a lost wallet or even a perpetually cheerful clerk at a gas station or office.

To nominate someone for a Hats Off, send a description of the good deed and contact information for those who can tell the story to The Gazette in one of these ways:

— Email: newsroom@gazettextra.com

— Fax: (608) 755-8349

— Mail: P.O. Box 5001, Janesville, WI 53547-5001

Coroner's office commends staff members

Rock County's acting coroner, Lou Smit, announced the following citations to members of the coroner's staff, which were presented Saturday. In addition to awarding the Sustained Superior Citizen Service Award to Tony Farrell Sr., the awards went to:

— Csaba Keller, deputy coroner, Certificate of Recognition for his actions upon coming upon a fatal traffic crash in July 2013. Csaba was off duty but joined the deputy coroner on scene, helping extricate the body of the fatality victim.

— Hayley Steele, deputy coroner, Certificate of Recognition. While still in training, Steele responded to a series of high-profile coroner cases that involved difficult and intense investigations.

— Jon Sutton, deputy coroner, Certificate of Recognition for consistently performing “at a high tempo of work ethic and while maintaining a regular caseload to include several high-profile cases.”

— Donald Robinson, deputy coroner, Certificate of Recognition for helping with a delicate situation on Nov. 30, 2013, when a man in a traffic accident was initially identified as deceased but in fact survived. Robinson helped law enforcement communicate the facts to all concerned parties.

— David Mall, deputy coroner, Certificate of Appreciation for providing “needed support and relief to deputy coroners, most often with little to no notice.”

— Jack Friess, deputy coroner/analyst, Certificate of Appreciation for spending several hundred hours so far in the continuing investigation of the death of an unidentified person designated as John “Clinton” Doe, who was found near Turtle Creek in the town of Bradford in 1995. Friess, who has been with the coroner's office for a short time, explored new avenues of investigation, identified new ways to use technology in the investigation and performed detailed analyses of data.

— Dani Darr, registered nurse and deputy coroner, Certificate of Appreciation for providing “consistent regular and helpful supplemental duty assignments to the Rock County Coroner's Office, providing needed support and relief to deputy coroners, most often with little to no notice.”

— Sydney Resler, coroner intern, Award of Excellence for providing service during her internship, including preparation of a traffic report for the Child Death Review Team and contributing to the coroner's office annual report.

— Natalie Piper, coroner intern, Award of Excellence for providing service to the coroner's office, including contributing to the annual report and participating in such public events as Freedom Fest and the Rock County 4-H Fair.

Who: Tony Farrell Sr., and his wife, Londa. Tony is a volunteer deputy coroner for Rock County. The couple have a long list of volunteer efforts.

What they did: The Farrells were going into the Janesville Wal-Mart on Jan. 3 when Londa noticed a plastic bag on the pavement between two parked cars. Tony thought it was trash.

Turns out, a woman who had lost her purse was using the bag to carry her cash, credit cards and ID. To make matters worse, she was from California and was visiting her ill mother in Janesville. She had left Wal-Mart without realizing she had lost the bag.

Tony called Rock County dispatch's nonemergency number, but police were busy, he was told. It would take them some time to arrive. The couple took the bag to the Wal-Mart service counter and asked if anyone had called about the lost bag. No one had.

This was during the post-Christmas rush, with long lines at customer service, and Tony worried the bag would get lost in the shuffle. But the Farrells knew the woman would be calling, panicking about her lost valuables.

Tony even called the police department, where he knew some of the sergeants. The weather was horrible, and officers were busy with traffic calls.

“Let's wait,” Londa said.

So they did, for about 90 minutes.

The woman arrived with her brother and stood at the end of the long line. Londa recognized her from her photo identification, which they could see through the bag.

“My wife walked up to her and said, 'ma'am, are you Barbara?' And she looked kind of shocked, and said, 'yes I am,' and Londa said 'we have your bag.' The lady was so excited.”

Turns out the Californian had worked with children with disabilities all her life, and the Farrells had done some volunteering for children with disabilities, so they chatted about it.

Tony, known as a stickler for the rules and a former commander with the Beloit Police Reserve Unit, said he would like an officer present to catalog the items and make sure everything was there.

But the woman needed to get to her mother, so Tony asked her to check the bag in front of witnesses, which she did.

“She said, 'just perfect,'” Tony recalled.

“They gave us a big hug. They were just excited. Just wonderful people.”

Why they did it: “That's the great thing about living in Janesville, living in Rock County,” Tony said. “I have friends that would've done the same thing. … My wife and I felt good about helping someone who was unfortunate.”

What others say: “He could've just blown it off and given it to the security guys,” said Lou Smit, acting Rock County coroner. Smit has no complaints about Wal-Mart, but he said there have been instances of stores not handling lost items properly.

Tony identified himself as a sworn deputy coroner during the incident, which is how this came to Smit's attention.

'He's a stickler for the rules,” Smit said of Farrell.

Smit honored Farrell on Saturday with a citation for this act and also for his ongoing suicide-prevention efforts,

Everyone on the staff gives suicide-prevention talks, but Farrell is especially dedicated, Smit said. “I think he talks to somebody just about every day.”

Smit said the county peaked at 32 suicides in 2011 but saw only 17 in 2013. The recent statistic could increase by one or two more as toxicology tests come in.

Smit is particularly pleased that Rock County has not had an underage suicide for about 18 months. That's well below the national average, which is two underage suicides for every adult suicide, he said.

What's next?” Anyone who knows the Farrells knows that they will downplay this act and continue their service to the community.